Well, the long awaited first issue of Marvel's Miracleman reprint series is out at last, but nobody seems to be talking about the story. Instead, all the buzz is around the latest it of controversy surrounding the series: the fact that a one panel shot of Liz Moran's bare bum has been censored in the 'mass market' digital version of the book by the addition of a pair of purple knickers! There's nothing overtly sexual about the scene; Miracleman's wife is simply standing nude in her bedroom talking to her husband prior to putting on a robe. But apparently the mere suggestion that kids might realize that women have buttocks was too much for someone! Even more amusingly, the censoring of the digital version has apparently prevented Marvel from giving away the now customary free digital code with the printed version, despite the fact that Liz is as naked as nature and Garry Leach intended in the 'Parental Advisory' digital version. Take that, digital fans!

I look forward to seeing how Marvel and Comixology will handle the infamous childbirth issue. Presumably, they'll have the pages hastily redrawn to suggest that Liz is giving birth during a power cut...

tony ingram wrote: I look forward to seeing how Marvel and Comixology will handle the infamous childbirth issue. Presumably, they'll have the pages hastily redrawn to suggest that Liz is giving birth during a power cut...

I don't even want to know. This is so ridiculously childish I don't know what to say. I bought the print issue, and plan to keep buying them, but WHY do publishers think this kind of thing is ok?

Apparently, they've now decided what to do about the childbirth issue. Diamond Distributors have issued a statement to the effect that they feel they have a responsibility to "protect" their readers, so copies of Miracleman are now to be sold polybagged. Graphic violence is fine, but God forbid their fragile readership should find out what ladies look like 'down there'...

On the other hand, a fairly graphic rape scene in the latest issue of Dynamite's Game of Thrones comic is apparently fine. Although there was something of an outcry when several comics sites published uncensored previews of the pages online without checking them first.

tony ingram wrote:Apparently, they've now decided what to do about the childbirth issue. Diamond Distributors have issued a statement to the effect that they feel they have a responsibility to "protect" their readers, so copies of Miracleman are now to be sold polybagged. Graphic violence is fine, but God forbid their fragile readership should find out what ladies look like 'down there'...

That's just nuts. Having watched two childbirths myself, I can safely say that there's nothing pornographic about it. It's kind of gross, of course, but certainly no grosser than Superboy-Prime ripping someone in half or whatever.